Fantastic Four
by kashkow
Summary: I have no excuses for this. Just a bit of something that just had to come out. Not beta'd. Just a little team fic. Not really a cross over, but it COULD be called one I guess.


Fantastic Four

By: Ellen H

Author's Note: Strangely, I own neither the Stargate Atlantis characters nor the easily recognizable characters of a certain comic book/movie series. Hard to believe I know. Suing would be ludicrous.

Author's Note 2: Well, it has been a long time since I posted anything, but the bunnies have not been quiet. Ideas have come and gone and come back to gnaw on my cortex yet again. This is one such persistent chewer, and so to stop the pain, I give you this…..shared pain is pain eased after all. I have no explanation.

Author's Note 3- It would be helpful if you were at least conversant in the comic book origin of the Fantastic Four. (Or the movie version) But it is not REALLY necessary since this is mostly just me being weird. I swear I am getting to another more "realistic" story now that this one is finished. Think of this as the speed bump on the way to the main attraction…

Chapter 1-

With a tired sign John Sheppard leaned against the wall of the hallway, letting the smooth warm material of the Ancient city support the weight of his pack and body. It wasn't that the pack was particularly heavy, it was just that he was feeling particularly crappy that morning, and he was really not looking forward to the next few hours. He had felt bad before his usual morning run, and had almost passed out as he had chased Ronan around their usual route. Not that the chasing was unusual, the damn man could run, but the light headed floaty feeling had been, and it had been shear force of will that had kept him on his feet until they reached the end of their route. Ronan had looked at him with concern, at least as much as he let show, and asked with a smirk if he needed a medic and a wheelchair. Sheppard had flipped him off and staggered off to his shower where he had spent almost an hour under the hot massaging spray. Thank god there was a never ending supply of hot water here in Atlantis, at least there was for him. He felt perfectly justified that he had sent a request to the city that a certain Satedan's shower had nothing but freezing drizzle.

It had taken him quite a while to realize that not everyone was so endowed so to speak. In fact, no one else had such privileges as he often enjoyed. His first inkling had been the doors. After the initial surprise of the whole "mental-component" thing had worn off, it had become second nature to "think" doors open, and so it was for everyone with the gene. But it had not taken long for John to realize that he did not even have to make that much effort. He had found out more when the Genii had attacked. At first he was slightly put off by the idea that the city was that deeply in his head to be able to read his intentions, but as things had progressed he had become more comfortable with it. It had become second nature to use what was on offer. Then over the course of the years he had come to realize that there were certain other benefits that the city allowed him that evidently the others were not even aware existed.

Take the shower for instance. After his little hide and seek game with the Genii he had been sore in both body and soul. After making sure Rodney had made it to his bed when the adrenaline rush had finally faded, seeing that Elizabeth was safely ensconced in her own room with a cup of hot tea and Teyla's calming company, and that the city was once more under the control of the right people and there was no chance of anything like that happening again on his watch, he had slogged back to his room and had slumped onto his bunk. His own adrenaline had yet to fade, and there was no way he was going to sleep just yet. Not to mention that the sound of over 60 men, be they enemies or not, hitting the shield had been resounding in his head like a second heartbeat. He had pulled off his uniform and stumbled into the bathroom. The shower had turned on as he entered the room, already adjusting itself to his preferred temperature. As he stepped into the open shower area he had almost jumped out of his skin as a blue shimmer had appeared across the opening. Steam had begun to build up almost immediately, and a shelf-like seat had slid soundlessly from what he had assumed was a solid wall. The shower stream had then begun pulsing down on him in a gentle message. He had let the warmth of the water unknot his shoulders and leg muscles before he had sunk down on the surprisingly soft seat and let the warm steam sooth him all over. He had sat there until he was almost asleep and then managed to drag himself back to his bunk and crashed for almost ten hours. The next day he had made a totally serious comment about relaxing in his spa when McKay had made a snide comment about his obviously relaxed demeanor. McKay had fired back about how sarcasm was not necessary when he was only asking a question, and they had been off on their regular snarkfest. After that John had subtly asked around, and had come to the conclusion that he was getting the A list treatment.

It was a fact that he had decided to keep to himself after much reflection. Not that he begrudged his fellows the services; he was just not sure that anyone else COULD use them. When Carson, the second strongest natural gene user in the city, told him that "of course I still have to think the doors open, lad." in a tone that suggested that Sheppard had possibly lost some brain cells in one of his many brushes with death, he had come to the conclusion that he was the only one. Perhaps it was erroneous, and he knew that McKay would fry his ass if and when he found out about it, but there it was. If he told everyone about it and he was the only one that could use the luxuries then people would resent it and him. If he didn't tell and it was found out later he could always pretend he was as surprised as anyone. He was leaning toward the second, as selfish as it sounded sometimes. It wasn't like he used the spa all the time, only after those really hairy missions where life was hanging by a rapidly unraveling thread…..okay, he used it a lot.

In any event, even the ministrations of an adoring city had not helped today. But here he was, waiting on McKay, again, and feeling like crap. He straightened away from the wall and strode over to Rodney's door. He could "feel" that the privacy lock was engaged, and also knew that if he wanted to he could override it, another little fact he had hidden from general knowledge, but he ignored that in favor of pounding his fist against the panel while he triggered his radio to the private team channel.

"McKay, if your ass is not out this door in the next two minutes I am coming in there and hauling you down to the jumper bay in whatever you are currently wearing. So, unless you feel that your reputation can survive going on a mission in Sponge-Bob Square Pants boxers and a pink t-shirt then get a move on." He announced. Moments later the radio keyed again.

"Isn't that the little yellow thing on your TV for kids?" Ronan inquired sardonically. The radio keyed again after the Satedan finished talking.

"I do not believe that pink is the best color for you Rodney. I have always felt that blue is a better choice given your skin coloring and eye color. I do however feel that perhaps the boxer shorts may not be appropriate for a mission." Teyla put in her polite two cents worth.

"Oh you are all just SO funny, not. " McKay grumbled over the radio, as he swept out the door nearly running Sheppard over as he did so. He was lugging his pack over one shoulder and was still trying to zip up his vest. His M9 was dangling from the belt he had looped over one arm and it kept hitting his knee as he walked. Sheppard swooped in and grabbed the belt, pulling it off McKay's arm. The scientist growled at him, but finally accepted the help and finished zipping the vest and put his pack on the rest of the way.

"I told you that the boxers were a present from Madison and the shirt was the result of the idiots in the laundry being unable to tell red from white. It is not my fault that everything in that load came out pink."

"You are the one that was wearing the shirt, and the boxers, not like Maddy would know if you wore them or not." John pointed out, following along as McKay power-walked toward the jumper bay. Looked like it was going to be one of those days, the scientist seemed to have two settings, too fast and too slow, must have gotten into the espresso this morning.

"It was all I had! Everything else is being held hostage by that guerilla down in laundry, as if I am going to apologize to the color-blind little turnip!" He declared, marching onward.

"So if that was yesterday, what are you doing today?" Sheppard idly enquired as he tried to keep up. His normal stamina was just not with him today. He was nearly plastered up against the other man's back as McKay stopped suddenly. The scientist did not turn, but a flood of red washed up the back of his neck, and even in his groggy state Sheppard knew, he just KNEW.

"Gosh! _Commando_, Rodney?" He drawled. "There's a bold move. I bet the nurses in the infirmary will appreciate that when it comes time for post-mission checks, might finally get a date. I think Yates was interested last time you were in. This could push him over the edge." If possible the neck got even redder and McKay spun to face him. His face was just as red.

"Oh that's very funny 'Colonel Kink'. The state of my underwear is none of your concern." He spun around again and started walking again, only to cause another near collision as he stopped and turned again. There was a faintly nauseated look on his face. "You really think Yates has the hots for me? He was saying in the cafeteria that he was on duty for the day my annual exam is scheduled." He started shaking his head rapidly back and forth. "Oh no, no, no, no! I am not going there. Let him get off on someone else's rectal exam…"

Sheppard stopped listening at that point, there was way too many pictures forming in his mind that he was just not interested in seeing. Yates was a six foot six Marine sergeant, built like a tank, one of the gentlest nurses in Carson's domain, and he was also as straight as an arrow, almost painfully so in fact. Sheppard was not even sure if the man knew that that there was such a thing as homosexuality. He also did not drink, smoke or swear. It didn't seem to be a religious thing, it was just the way he was.

He left McKay firmly in denial in the doorway to the jumper bay and walked toward the open door of Jumper One. He could see Teyla and Ronan already sitting in the chairs behind the pilots' seats talking quietly. They turned as he entered and shrugged off his pack. He turned to find his teammates eying him closely.

"What" He muttered as he walked to the front and sat down to start his preflight. At least most of that was automated.

"You look pale John, and Ronan says that you were not feeling well this morning during your run." Teyla said with a concerned look. He glared at Ronan over his shoulder.

"Traitor" He said snidely. The ex-runner smirked at him. The Satedan knew he could not get away with lying to Teyla, and so he had thrown Sheppard under the bus. He looked back at Teyla with a forced smile. "I'm a little under the weather maybe, but nothing enough to call off the mission. We're only mapping that asteroid cluster and then coming back. Not like we're running from natives or dodging Wraith. If all else fails I can hand off the piloting to McKay and we'll still get back, eventually."

"Oh, yes, very funny." Rodney said as he shuffled onboard, flinging his pack haphazardly toward the webbing where the other had secured their packs earlier. "I'll have you know that I can navigate this ship as well as you can Wrong-Way Corrigan. And just how many Jumpers have **you** crashed all together, hmmm"

"Secure your pack McKay. I don't feel like having it imbedded in the back of my skull if we have loose inertial dampeners. Didn't you ever see "Red Light Return" in your drivers ed class?" Sheppard said as McKay triggered the back hatch and started forward.

"First, if the inertial dampeners fail we'll have other problems beside a floating pack, and second, unlike you Americans who trust the schools that can not even teach children to read to teach them to drive, we Canadians actually require a qualified Beginners Driving course taught by a qualified teacher. So, no, I did not attend "Driver's ed" as you American's call it nor did I ever see anything called "Red Light Return" great porno though I am sure it was. As a matter of fact I taught myself to drive when I was ten. I would have done it earlier, but I couldn't see over the dashboard of my grandmama's car until then. Then when the CSIS wanted my plans for the nuclear bomb I built for the science fair I made them give me a drivers license in return for the activation codes." He said while stuffing his pack into the webbing and then moving forward. He settled into the co-pilot's seat and looked at Sheppard. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get this mission on the road, I have more important things to be doing than routine asteroid mapping that could be handled by a 1st year astronomy student."

"It's a random draw, Rodney. No team WANTS to be out there mapping rocks. That's why it's luck of the draw."

"Well, remind me to fix the draw next time." McKay sniffed with contempt. "I'm sure that Zalenka would be more than happy to do it the next three or four times in a row, or Parrish." He caught Teyla's look of disapproval. "What? There is no such thing as truly random for the most part. A random number generator based solely on deterministic computation _cannot_ be regarded as a "true" random number generator, since its output is inherently predictable… " He stopped as Teyla's look sharpened, and he slumped back into his seat. "Fine, rock charting it is. To the asteroid belt, James." He gestured grandly forward. Sheppard smiled and contacted the control room for permission and took the small ship out of the bay.

At least it should be a quiet mission for a change.

Chapter 2-

Rodney McKay shoved the floating pack away from his head as he tried to keep his feet on what was currently passing for the floor of the Jumper. He had managed to pretty much wedge himself partly into a storage compartment to brace himself against the effects of the lack of gravity and inertial dampeners, but it was still nearly impossible to focus on the panel he was frantically trying to fix. It did not help that at seemingly random points through out his process the "floor" would become the ceiling or a wall, and he would once again be scrambling for a foothold. He was sure that the randomness was simply Sheppard's way of showing him that true random did exist, it was just a matter of the generator used. They had argued the point most of the way out to the asteroid belt, causing Ronan to retreat to the back of the jumper to sharpen his knives or something and evidently giving Teyla an overpowering urge to meditate.

While the discussion of the various merits of linear congruential generator versus those of a probability density function had been interesting, there was only so many ways to make flying through a bunch of floating debris interesting, and the team had quickly gone through all of them. He had been just about ready to cave to Sheppard's suggestion of "Name that shape" when everything had gone to hell, which was not really all that surprising given their past experiences.

The Wraith dart had come out of seeming nowhere, obviously having been hidden behind the bulk of one of the many asteroids in the area. Why it was out here on its own, so far from a habitable, or harvestable, planet was a subject for speculation, one they did not have time for as the dart had started firing almost as soon as it cleared the asteroid. \

Sheppard, with his regular lightening fast reflexes, had them evading and shielding almost as soon as the first rounds hit them, but in a lucky shot the first round had taken out the inertial dampeners and things had gone down from there. Somehow staying in his seat while the other s had been tossed around like ping pong balls Sheppard had done his best to evade and fight back at the same time, trying to overcome the dart's initial advantage.

The fight had ranged over thousands of space miles as the two seemingly evenly matched pilots fought it out, exchanging blows and stomach turning, especially without the dampeners, moves. Sheppard had been hobbled by his passengers, knowing that he had to limit his moves in order to keep them from flying onto his control panel if nothing else. His entire focus as on getting in a killing blow with a drone before the dart could take out his shield or engines. He thought he might have a chance when his HUD popped up with a warning about a spatial anomaly that they had drawn near to during the fight. It was not an area that the Atlantis crew had yet explored and he could not read the ancient information that was scrolling on the HUD. Rodney, the only one proficient in Ancient scientific language, was wrapped around one of the back chairs like an orangutan, and there was no way he could come up to see the HUD. Well, no guts, not glory. He turned toward it.

Evidently the wraith must have a similar warning system, because it hesitated for a crucial moment, and as the jumper neared the anomaly Sheppard had the maneuvering room that he had so desperately needed. With a yell to his teammates to hold on he turned the ship with a twist that he was pretty sure was going to cause Rodney to loose whatever breakfast the man had managed to eat. The twist allowed him to turn to face the oncoming dart and they ended up almost nose to nose. He thought the drone off as he came around, and gave it all the "English" he could for the targeting. It might not be necessary, but it certainly didn't hurt.

Unfortunately the wraith, with reflexes beyond that of a human, was able to turn and fire at the same time. Sheppard was unable to see the effect of his drone as the shot hit the jumper and sent it tumbling, sparks flying from the control panels through out the ship. The lights went out and Sheppard lost all control started to drift. He braced himself, foolishly he knew, for the killing blow, but it never came. His drone must of hit, either destroying or disabling the dart. Kind of a Pyrrhic victory however. He had a feeling this was not a good neighborhood to have a breakdown.

An hour later they knew several things. One, Rodney had not managed to eat anything but a few power bars; however they came up just as well as any other food. Two, the small waste facility of the jumper was one of the systems that did not work, and three they were mostly screwed. The last was McKay's submission to their knowledge base as he rummaged in the various panels without much result. Teyla, who was holding the flashlight for him had suggested that a slightly more optimistic outlook would be best, had received a frown and a "Have you met me?" before he had returned to his fiddling.

After thirty minutes he had managed to get the HUD system working, but that was of little use without propulsion, communications, weapons, or most importantly, environmental controls. Since suggestions from his teammates were neither helpful or wanted the other three had talked among themselves and had spent time looking out the front windows at the debris field that shared their current orbit around the anomaly. One of the things that was out there was the dart, obviously badly damaged, but with the opaque canopy they were unable to tell if the wraith within was alive or not. Teyla's wraith sense was obviously affected by the distance and possibly the anomaly.

Regarding which, Sheppard was beginning to become quite worried. The alarm was persistently flashing in the corner of the HUD. The ship had helpfully popped up a scale next to the warning, and even though he could not read the parameters of the axis, he could tell that the level of whatever the ship was reading was rising, and there seemed to be a cut off point that he had a really bad feeling about. He bit his lip and mentally girding his loins he verbally entered the lions den.

"Uh..Rodney, I really think you need to take a look at this." He suggested. McKay, his foot wedged in a small compartment and his head in a panel was little more then a floating torso, but at Sheppard's words he pulled his head out of the panel and glared at the pilot.

"Have you found a system that is more important than say…breathing?" He did not give Sheppard a chance to answer before he continued "No? Fine, then I will go back to work trying to save our collective asses."

"Don't be that way Rodney," Sheppard drawled, knowing it irritated the Canadian when he did so. The scientist obviously was on the edge, and a little snark always got him back on a more even keel. "I just thought you might be interested in the alarm that is flashing on the HUD. Something about this spatial anomaly that we're orbiting." He hadn't mention the anomaly before, knowing that Rodney needed to focus on the repairs, but now it seemed the time had come to introduce it.

"Spatial anomaly? What spatial anomaly? How did you find a spatial anomaly in the middle of a dog fight?" The Canadian said, already kicking himself free of the compartment and pulling himself toward the control panel. He snarled at Sheppard's shrug and pushed his head in front of the pilot to look at the screen. He read through warning screen, and Sheppard was pretty sure that he was not going to like whatever it was that he was reading when the Canadian's reddened face paled. "Oh crap." Nope, definitely not going to like it.

Rodney reread the information that was continuously scrolling under the alert. Some of the words defied translation, and unfortunately one of them was exactly what it was they were being warned against. However from the context he gathered that the anomaly, which had evidently been in the same location when the Ancients were still occupying Atlantis, a phenomenon in and of itself in a non-static universe, was considered most dangerous due to the emissions it put forth. Exactly what those emissions were he could not glean from the part he could translate, but he COULD read the graph, and the set point the levels were heading toward was…wait for it….fatal exposure. So not good. He straightened as best he could in weightlessness and glared at Sheppard. Somehow this was his fault.

"What?" the pilot asked. His eyes going from the graph to McKay. As McKay prepared to lower the verbal boom the pilot held up his hand. "Wait a minute. If you are going to tell me that we are about to die because of something that anomaly is doing just….don't. I have had a crappy day so far. I have been fired on and chased by a wraith, I have to sit in a slowly dying jumper with the smell of vomit and no gravity, and I have a cold. Keep it to yourself." He pulled himself back into the little niche that had been his station since the last tumble and crossed his arms across his chest. McKay was staring at him like he was an idiot.

"Did you hit your head or something?" McKay asked with a scowl. "What, we are all two now and the bad stuff will go away if we don't look? Maybe we can all just hide under a blanket and the nasty monster will just go away." His rant was interrupted as the sound of Ronan unsheathing his sword (and why did he have that on a jumper that was only doing mapping any? Rodney's mind asked apropos of nothing much)

"There's a monster?" the Satedan asked. McKay turned his "are you an idiot" look # 4 on the runner in exasperation. They were saved from an additional tirade as Teyla stepped in.

"I believe that Rodney was making a point about ignoring a possible danger as one does as a child hoping that it will simply go away."

"We never did that. We were taught to attack first." Ronan said, putting the sword away with some disappointment.

"I am sure you were." Rodney snarked. "I can just see it now, hoards of Satedan babies marching toward the wraith with their rattles at left shoulder arms, diapers flapping in the wind, binkies that converted into gas masks….." Sheppard couldn't stand it anymore, and Ronan looked like he was about to launch across the cabin and pound Rodney into a small oily spot on the wall, or was it floor, of the jumper.

"Okay Rodney. What is the newest crisis? Give me your best shot." He said firmly, letting go of his hand hold to float between the two men. He saw Teyla's smile of approval out of the corner of his eye and he flashed her a small smile in return as McKay turned his mind back to the latest contestant in causes of their impending death.

"I can't read it all, but the gist is that the anomaly, thanks for mentioning that by the way, is emitting some sort of radiation, and when it reaches the line on the pretty little graph there we'll have received a fatal dose."

"Is there nothing we can do?" Teyla asked.

"Well, we could raise the shields…oh wait no we can't because we don't _have_ any shields." McKay snarked. When Teyla gave him "the look" He looked away and fiddled with the tool he was still holding. "Anyway, since I have no idea what the nature of the radiation is I don't even know if the shields would do more than slow it down. The Ancient warning just says to avoid the area." He looked at Sheppard, "You might want to brush up on that phrase in Ancient, so you recognize it in the future. If we have one that is." He pushed off back toward the open panel. "I think I can restart the environmental controls in a few minutes. Then I'll start on propulsion. Getting out of here seems to be the best idea."

"How long Rodney?" Sheppard asked.

"How long what? How long until we die a horrible death from some unknown radiation, or how long until I can use two paperclips, a tic tac, and a wad of gum to put the jumper back together enough to possibly keep us alive to die a horrible death later from some other disaster, or I don't know, partial exposure to unknown radiation…."

"Rodney." The tone of the warning made the scientist duck his head. He soon jerked it back up, chin high.

"Fine! I think that I can salvage enough crystals out of the non-essential systems to get propulsion online in about thirty minutes. If that," he pointed at the graph, "is realistic. We should have about an hour more at this level of exposure before we reach a fatal dose." Sheppard nodded. He knew that Rodney was working as fast as he could, faster than anyone else could, and that would have to be enough. He exchanged glances with his teammates, seeing the acceptance and resignation in their eyes that he knew was in his own. He pulled himself back to his niche.

"So we wait."

Chapter 3-

As it turned out they did not have to wait 30 minutes. Woolsey's SGA1 paranoia level was coming along nicely it seemed, and once Atlantis had been unable to raise them on communications he had sent out a rescue team. Two jumpers had showed up on the edge of the HUD read out fifteen minutes after McKay got the environmental controls back online. Once they had seen that, McKay had turned his attention to the communications array and by the time the other two jumpers were close by he had a jury-rigged unit that allowed them scratchy yet understandable conversation. A quick update on the emissions from the anomaly inspired some quick brainstorming and soon after they were being "towed" out of the area wrapped in the overlapping shields of the other two ships. By the time they had reached the space gate that would take them back to Atlantis Rodney had basic propulsion enough for them to go through on their own until the city could take it over and dock them in the bay.

Their adventures in mapping had been sent on to Atlantis and a decontamination team was standing by at the bay to take them to quarantine pending testing. They were all dressed in full gear, and the corridors between the isolation room and the jumper bay were cleared as the four team members were rolled there on gurneys that were enclosed in plastic bubbles. Dr Keller was waiting for them when they were rolled in along with three other doctors. Each team member was rolled into a small curtained area and the tests began.

Enough blood tissue and other samples were taken that Sheppard was pretty sure that somewhere someone was building one heck of a Frankenstein's monster.

After an hour of that McKay had demanded and gotten some lunch, demonstrating that at least the whole "ordeal" had not bothered his appetite. Ronan seconded the demand and they had all gathered in the centralized "sitting area", dressed in scrubs and robes-their clothing having gone to be decontaminated, and ate the meatloaf and mashed potatoes that were the day's lunch menu. After a brief spat over who got to eat Teyla's unwanted butterscotch pudding (Ronan won that one by simply taking it out of McKay's hand), they all sat back and stared at each other for several minutes.

"Well, I feel okay. Still got my cold, but otherwise I'm good. How about all of you?" Sheppard finally asked.

"I feel well." Teyla said, sweeping her hair back. I wish that they would complete their studies so that I could go see to Tegan. I am weaning him, but he still expects a feeding at this time of the day." McKay grimaced.

"Too much information." He said ignoring Teyla's disapproving look in his direction. While he had been in the room with Teyla and her son while she breast fed him previously, he was always slightly uncomfortable even thinking about it. It had seemed too intimate, and he was nothing if not freaked out about intimacy. The fact that they all spent a good portion of their time together and had few, if any illusions, about each other's bodies notwithstanding.

"I feel good." Ronan said finishing the pudding cup and setting the empty cup in front of McKay. "When they gonna let us out?"

"Probably sometime after they determine that you aren't going to turn into some giant green monster and start beating up the Marines. Oh wait….you do that now just without the green." McKay snarked, rolling his chair closed to Sheppard when the Satedan lazily swiped at him with one big hand. "I feel okay now that I've eaten. Though I think they took enough blood to keep Dracula happy for a few weeks. Surely by now Keller has had a chance to do the chanting and herb burning to the medical gods and has received and answer from the oracle. And am I the only one that wants to know why it is SO hot in here?" He took off the robe he was wearing over the short sleeved scrub top. He used one of the trays to fan himself. "If I caught your cold Sheppard, I'll make sure that you don't have hot water for the next month."

"I'm not having hot flashes Rodney." Sheppard drawled. "Maybe you're reaching 'that time of life'". He smiled at McKay's indignant squawk. Teyla covered her smile and shook her head at Ronan's inquiry.

"What's 'that time of life'" Before Teyla could explain the doors opened and Keller walked in, sans isolation suit. The team got to their feet.

"As you may guess, we've determined that you do not need to be in isolation anymore." She said. The team shared smiles before noticing that Keller did not seem to be as happy as they were.

"What?" McKay asked his face pinching in concern. Oh good god they were all going to die, or turn into turnips or something. His brain was too valuable to turn into mush….again.

"Rodney" Sheppard's warning calmed him as he was about to start peppering the doctor with questions. And since a good portion of those questions had had to do with how they were planning on saving his monumental brain and little to do with his teammate's health that might have been a good thing. Keller flashed Sheppard a grateful look and continued.

"We've not been able to find any information in the database about the anomaly or what form of radiation it outputs. Nor have we been able to definitively narrow down the effects the radiation might have on your systems."

"'Definitively' means that you are seeing something though, right?" Sheppard asked. He purposely moved slight over so that his shoulder brushed against McKay's and he saw/felt Ronan and Teyla also moving in closer so that they were all subtly in contact with each other. Team solidarity in the face of bad news, they had gotten very good with that.

"Something is happening with your DNA. The genetics department is working on it now." Keller said

"Something? However many years it takes to get a doctorate in genetics and the best they can come up with is 'something is happening with the DNA'" McKay ranted. "Where the hell is Carson when we need him. He was at least competent when it came to reading the chicken bones."

"As a matter of fact we've sent a sample of your DNA back to Earth, along with what we know about the anomaly. Carson will be looking at it as soon as it arrives at his labs. We uh…thought he would want to be involved."

"What about the Anomaly?" Teyla asked, turning to Rodney. "Is not your department working on that? Can we not learn something about what might be happening to us by looking at the cause?" McKay waved a hand.

"Zalenka has the monkeys working. Half are looking at the telemetry from the puddle jumpers and half are scouring the data banks for any information that can be found and actually translated." He pointed to his ear piece, I've been online with him all the time, and so far nothing but a lot of cursing in various Baltic languages. So far I've learned 20 ways to say motherf…"

"I think we get the picture, Rodney, thanks." Sheppard cut him off and turned back to Keller. "So, 'something' is happening with our DNA. Is it changing, unraveling, dissolving, what." He paused with a grimace, "Not going back to the bug thing, right?" He so did not want to go there again and take his friends along for the ride.

"I really can't tell you what it is doing, we just don't know. It is NOT like it was with the retrovirus; you are not changing into bugs." Keller sighed with frustration. "You know how the DNA is in a helix, a double spiral?" Sheppard and McKay nodded firmly, Teyla less so. Ronan just shrugged.

"Like a twisted rope." Teyla suggested to Ronan. He nodded in understanding. Keller continued.

"It is as if certain sections of the strands are flexing apart and resettling in new configurations. We've never seen anything like it before so we don't know what it is doing or what it will do to you."

"Great. We'll just sit here and wait while our DNA does the rumba and we all turn into wraith, or …or something worse." He waved Keller off imperiously. "Well, what are you hanging around here for? Go find out what the hell is going on and how to stop it. It's not like we're going anywhere." He flopped down into a chair and as if she had already left started talking to Zalenka in what sounded like Russian. Keller sighed again.

"I'm sorry we don't have anything more definitive for you. We ARE trying." She said. We want you to stay here, in isolation, since we don't know what you may need. By the way Colonel, I don't remember anyone mentioning a cold when permission clearances were being discussed. Was I out of the room at that time?" She asked pointedly. He shrugged.

"Not like there was anything you could do about it anyway, and we were just mapping the asteroids. Didn't think it really mattered." He said.

"Maybe we couldn't cure it, but we could have given you something to help. Your temperature was not elevated and your white blood cells were not excessive, so it seems to be a pretty minor infection. If you need something for it let me know." With that and a last glance at them all she left the room.

"That was kind of rude, Rodney, even for you." Sheppard pointed out as he slouched down in the chair next to McKay. Teyla moved off to one of the cubicles her hand going to her earpiece, and he suspected she was talking to Cannan. Ronan went and laid down on one of the beds, closing his eyes. He would be asleep in moments and would wake at the slightest out of the ordinary noise Sheppard knew.

"Well, it is kind of rude for them to tell us that something is wrong with us, but not exactly what that something is. Why can't medicine be like physics? A thing is what a thing is and it behaves in certain ways. If this-then that. None of this wishy-washy 'something' is going on."

"Sure Rodney. Physics is so rock solid. Like with Schrödinger's cat or I don't know Heisenberg's _uncertainty_ principle." There was nothing like a little argument to get McKay out of a funk. He settled further into his slouch as McKay started up on his rant.

Chapter 4-

Eight hours later things had not changed much except for the lighting. Dinner had come and gone, as had a whole new selection of samples. Sheppard suspected that this would be the last collection though as Ronan had suggested that any further sampling would be done on the end of his sword. They had been brought laptops and movies and a deck of cards, and they had kept themselves busy as well as they could. After a long discussion with assorted medical personnel and security it had been decided that Tegan could be brought in to his mother, though breast feeding was out of the question, and they had played with the baby until he had nodded off several hours later. He was now sleeping on Teyla's bed. She was keeping a close eye on him to make sure he did not roll off. Cannan had left after that for a quick run to the mainland. He would come back to get the baby when he returned.

McKay had been complaining about the heat in the room off and on, going so far as to hack past the security lockouts, instituted 'just in case, sir', to fiddle with the environmental controls. This action had caused a brief furor in the control room as a new recruit at the control desk had seen it as a hostile attack and almost set off the general alarm. Happily, Zalenka had been nearby and recognized McKay's not so fine hand and had put a stop to that. McKay was not happy to find that the temperature was reportedly at the normal setting and as none of the others were feeling uncomfortable he had simply settled for complaining about it, until Sheppard kidded him again about hot flashes. Ronan seemed to have developed a permanent itch on his arms, even though no rash was showing, and his temper was even shorter than usual.

After a few rounds of cut-throat poker which Teyla won resoundingly, winning everyone's deserts for the next week, they had decided to call it a night. Teyla stood in her usual graceful way and stretched, which of course her teammates all enjoyed. They were men after all. She graced them with that smile that told them that she knew they looked, and that she didn't mind their admiration. She had turned toward the bed when it happened. Tegan, possible woken by the noise as the game broke up, but unnoticed by everyone had decided to move. He rolled to his left and toward the edge of the bed. His mother was at least twenty feet away, and the others were farther. Despite the fact that they would not be able to prevent the child from falling all of them leaped toward the child, only to be brought up short as the child was caught and cradled in familiar arms….the arms of his mother, who was standing 20 feet away, her arms stretched unnaturally outward as if they were made of rubber.

Chapter 5-

There was a very long and awkward silence. In that silence, Teyla's arms somehow…retracted back to their normal size, bringing the child to rest against her chest. Shifting the boy to one arm she held out the other, looking at it as if she had never seen it before. Typically it was McKay that broke the silence.

"Okay, that was incredibly weird." He stuttered, taking a step back that coincidently put Ronan between him and Teyla. For his part Ronan had overcome his surprise enough to draw his weapon and point it at the Athosian. Sheppard did not take his eyes of Teyla as he reached out a hand and forced the gun down. It took more effort than he liked to admit and it was like pushing on a rock. He was sure he only succeeded because Ronan allowed it, but he would take what he could get. He put his hands out in what he hoped was a calming manner.

"Thank you, Dr. Obvious, for your concise summary of the situation." He said to Rodney as he moved forward. When in doubt, snark. McKay cast a dubious glance at Teyla and raised his chin.

"That's multiple Doctor Obvious, thank you. Now, what the hell?" He asked. Sheppard shrugged and took another step toward Teyla who was still staring at her arm. As he stopped in front of her one of her fingers suddenly elongated then snapped back to its regular size. He had to consciously stop himself from jumping like a scared cat.

"Uh…Teyla?" He started, but stopped as she looked away from her arm and thrust Tegan at him, letting go the moment he had the boy. She backed away.

"Take him away. I should not touch him. I'm…I'm…." She seemed at a loss for what she was, and she was not alone. Sheppard mind whirled as he tried to think of something to say. Finally he reached up and keyed his com, handing Tegan over to Ronan who took the boy back toward the bed.

"Dr Keller, I think you may want to come over here to isolation." He said steadily. Teyla sank to the floor, and wrapped her arms around her drawn up knees. If they might have wrapped a bit further than they _should_ have Sheppard tried to ignore it.

"What is it Colonel? Did you need something for your cold?" Came the reply from the doctor who was probably off duty. He wasn't about to put this out over the comms however.

"No," He said as calmly as he could. "But I think you might want to bring your bag with you, and maybe Mr. Woolsey."

"My bag and….? Colonel, what is going on?" He could hear rustling sounds in the background as he suspected the doctor was getting dressed.

"Let's just say that I think that 'something' has become a definite one….thing." He said. He wasn't even sure if HE understood that one. Keller was obviously equally puzzled as he heard her curse under her breath.

"I'll be right there." He turned off his earpiece and sank into a nearby chair, running his hand over his face. Okay, this may be the weirdest thing that had ever happened to them. The thought had hardly crossed his mind when McKay gave a sudden yelp and started dancing around the room waving his arm. Sheppard was amazed to see that somehow his whole right sleeve had caught fire. He leapt to his feet, grabbing a robe that was draped over the back of one of the chairs and charged at McKay wrapping the robe around his arm and smothering the flame. Out of the corner of his eye he saw that Ronan had his gun out again and was standing between McKay and the child, but he ignored that and tried to calm the Canadian down.

"Rodney, Rodney, calm down. It's out, it's out. Just calm down and let me look at it." He managed to push McKay down into a chair as the scientist tried not to hyperventilate. "What happened?" he had no idea how McKay could have suddenly burst into flame in the middle of a room with o open flames.

"It just burst into flame, my sleeve!" Rodney said eyeing his arm with alarm as Sheppard started to unwrap the robe. "My god I'm going to be horribly scarred aren't I? I can't feel any pain. That means that nerve endings have been completely destroyed! They may even have to amputate. I can't type with out my hand, and that's the one I use for…" Sheppard cut him off before he could go any further, almost afraid where the panicked ramble was going.

"Just calm down, Rodney. Dr. Keller is on the way. Now, let's just take a look at what you have, it may not be as bad as you think. Hey, don't they have 'stop, drop and roll' in Canada? You looked like a gooney bird trying to take off there for a minute. He almost had the robe undone, and he was gently peeling away the last layer, not wanting to take any damaged skin with the material if it was stuck. There had to be at least a first or second degree burn, possibly worse. Maybe he should wait for Keller….The last fold of the robe fell away and he gaped at the arm.

Rodney had been watching Sheppard's face; too afraid to look at what he was sure was horrible damage to his arm. He felt the last of the fabric fall away from his arm, and braced himself for the bad news. Instead Sheppard just sat there staring at his arm. No look of horror, no wince of sympathetic pain, nothing. Finally as he did not seem to be getting any cues from his friend he mentally girded his loins and looked down at his ravaged limb and saw…nothing. He blinked and pulled his arm away from Sheppard's slack hands to exam it further.

The skin on his arm and hand was perfect. Not so much as a hair was singed. However the sleeve of the scrubs that he was wearing was still smoldering in tatters at his shoulder. He hesitantly reached over with his other hand and felt the skin on his arm, almost afraid of what he would find. Could severe burns cause wishful hallucinations?

"Ummm…I don't suppose that it could be some sort of special scrub material, something that's made to protect someone from fire?" He suggested out loud, trying to find a way to explain it. When no one answered he looked away from his arm toward Sheppard and found out that the colonel was not even looking at his arm, instead he seemed to be staring down at Rodney's foot. "What?" He asked and leaned forward to see what was so fascinating. Had he lost one of the papery slippers? His toes were hairy, but not hideous. His mind stuttered to a halt.

Across the exposed skin of his foot, dancing around the ruined remains of his now smoldering slipper was a small flame. It moved around his skin as if it was alive, yet his skin and hair once again remained untouched. From the condition of his slipper he suspected it had been dancing there at least several minutes without causing any damage to his foot. The flame merrily danced from toe to toe, and then as quickly as the other flame had appeared it disappeared as if sucked into the pores of his skin. He raised his eyes to meet Sheppard's.

"Oh crap." He wasn't sure which of them said it.

Chapter 6-

Jennifer Keller hurried toward the isolation room with Mr. Woolsey keeping pace with her as she went. He had asked her exactly what it was they were going to see, but she had no answer beyond Colonel Sheppard's request for her presence with her bag, and his suggestion that it had something to do with the changes that were being seen in their DNA. She could only speculate that something had happened, however she had no idea what that might be. As they reached the isolation room she nodded to the Marine that was stationed at the door per standard procedure, and entered. Whatever she expected to see, it was not what she got.

Teyla was sitting on the floor, pulled back into a corner of the room, her arms wrapped around her knees and her head down on them. It seemed she was trying to compress herself into as small a space as possible. Rodney McKay was pacing frantically across the back of the room, and while that in itself was not odd, the fact that one arm of his scrubs seemed to have been burned off and he was holding the remains of what appeared to be a still smoldering slipper. His own if his bare foot was any indication. Also, despite the pacing the regular ranting was not in evidence, in fact he did not even seem to notice that someone had entered the room.

At the other side of the room were Dex and Sheppard. The Colonel was sitting on one of the beds, holding Tegan, and absently bouncing him on his knee as he gnawed at his lip in what Keller recognized as his most serious mode of thought. Usually reserved for oncoming disaster, or incipient death, the mostly relaxed colonel was anything but, despite his gentle handling of the boy. Dex, well he was pretty much as he always was, though he seemed to be standing guard between Sheppard and the other two team members. The only incongruous thing was the way he was scratching his arms as he watched Keller and Woolsey look around. Sheppard stood up and handed the boy to Ronan. He came forward to stand in front of the two others.

"What is going on here, colonel?" Woolsey asked, glancing again at Teyla and McKay. "Why did you need me here with the doctor?" Sheppard followed his glance and sighed.

"I think the other shoe has dropped with that DNA problem that we have." He said, not really answering the question. "Teyla and Rodney, they uh….." He stopped.

"Dr McKay and Ms Emagan, what, Colonel?" Woolsey asked impatiently. He had several hours of reports to finish before he could go to bed, and he would like to get to them. The two did seem to be acting strange, but surely that was a medical issue, not an administration issue. Sheppard grimaced and looked toward McKay.

"Rodney, they're not going to believe me unless you show them." He said. When the pacing didn't stop he raised his voice. "Rodney!"

"What?" McKay snapped back then turned to finally notice the new arrivals. "Oh, you're here." He said. He walked over, his one slipper slapping oddly on the floor. "I suppose you want me to make like some sort of circus geek and display my affliction." He asked with a snarl. Sheppard ignored the attitude and nodded.

"Five minutes does not an affliction make, Rodney. This could be something that can be fixed. Let's try a little positive thinking, hmm?" He rolled his eyes toward Teyla and McKay gave a gusty sigh.

"Fine. First, I would like to state that as far as I know this is physically impossible, and I have never been one to believe the claims of spontaneous human combustion. That being said," He thrust his hand out palm up. Keller and Woolsey both looked at it, but as moments passed with nothing untoward appearing to happen they began to look up at Rodney and Sheppard.

"Wait for it…." Sheppard drawled, his eyes never leaving McKay's palm. Keller and Woolsey exchanged a look and both started to speak, coincidentally looking back down at McKay's still outthrust hand. They gasped simultaneously as out of nowhere a small flame appeared in the middle of McKay's hand and seemed to dance around.

"What the fu.." Keller cut herself off and looked at McKay who seemed incredibly calm for a man with fire dancing in his hand.

"Yeah." He said. "I don't know how I'm doing it, but it doesn't seem to burn me, though it will burn my clothes." He gestured at his sleeve. The flame flickered a few times and then disappeared. Keller reached for his hand and ran her fingers over the palm. Except for some residual heat from the flame it was pristine. She looked back up at McKay and then at Sheppard who gave her a wan smile.

"Surprisingly McKay is taking this all pretty well compared to Teyla." He said softly, looking toward the corner. Keller looked at the Athosian who had not moved from her huddle.

"Teyla is experiencing the same phenomenon?" Keller asked, keeping her voice low. She was surprised when Sheppard shook his head.

"No, I'm afraid Teyla is a whole different kind of weird." He turned his back to his distraught teammate and in a low voice told them what had happened with the baby. They stared at him when he finished until he threw out his hands and announced, "I am not making this up. Ask flame boy over here."

"Oh very funny. Just because I now qualify for free admittance to the freak show, does not give you the right to…."

"My skin is doing something funny. You may want to take the baby." Ronan's calm voice interrupted. All eyes, even Teyla's, turned to the ex-runner who was indeed turning a darker color. The color was darker on his fingers and seemed to be spreading up his arms as they watched. As the color disappeared under the sleeves of his scrubs they also saw that the skin on his hands and arms seemed to be thickening and growing lumpy. Keller reached for her earpiece and ordered a full team to start taking samples again, though she was not sure what she was going to do about any of these manifestations. She looked at Sheppard who was once again holding the baby and watching his teammate turn into living rock.

"Are _you_ all right?" she asked. He looked back at her and shrugged.

"As all right as I ever am." He replied. He glanced around at his teammates. "I think you might want to take the baby out though. I have a feeling that the last shoe is going to drop sooner or later." Keller nodded and reached for the baby. She started to take him out but detoured over to Teyla who had raised her head when Sheppard had mentioned removing the child. Keller offered the baby to her but she shook her head and only looked longingly at the boy.

"Please, see that he is given to Cannan. Tell him…." She stopped, unsure what she could have the doctor tell her husband. "Tell him I, we, will be fine." Keller nodded and took the baby out. Woolsey, left to his own devices looked over at Sheppard. The colonel was looking from one of his teammates to the other, a look in his eyes that Woolsey had never seen. He sidled closer to the only, "normal" person in the room besides himself and spoke quietly.

"You do realize what these….manifestations appear to be like?" He ventured. It was very, very weird, but his mind would not stop making the connection. Perhaps his boyhood had been a little too lonely and shut-in. Sheppard looked back at him, and drew in his bottom lip. He nodded reluctantly.

"Fantastic Four, it's like an origins issue gone bad." He said in the same quiet voice. He looked toward Teyla, "Mister, I mean Mrs., Fantastic." His eyes turned to McKay, "The Human Torch," his eyes moved again to Ronan whose skin had a thick almost rock-like appearance everywhere but his face and who was almost idly bending one of his knives into a u-shape with his bare hands. At least he wasn't orange, yet. Sheppard almost whispered the last words "The ever-loving Thing."

"Oh and I suppose that makes you the Invisible Girl then." Came McKay's voice from directly behind them, obviously having heard their speculation and understanding the reference. They both jumped. Almost immediately Sheppard felt a wave of chill roll over him as if a cold breeze had blown through the closed room. Both Woolsey and McKay stepped back, looks of shock on their faces. Sheppard looked down at himself, and didn't see anything there!

Chapter 7-

Three days and many more samples later the four sat around the small table again, but this time instead of the laughter and kidding of the poker game now they were avoiding looking at each other, and even at themselves. The only one not aching from repeated blood draws was Ronan, as it was found that his skin was now impervious to needles. A geology technician, sworn to secrecy-"yeah right", McKay had scoffed-had come in with a diamond chisel and had chipped off a small piece of the orange skin. The small wound had grown over almost instantly and the sample was being processed down in the geology lab since the medical section was clueless. McKay had posited that the whole story would be spread around Atlantis by breakfast, with only those people over on the mainland at the outpost there not getting the news until at least lunch. Sheppard was of the opinion that the estimate was too optimistic. This kind of news was worth getting people out of bed.

Sheppard was currently visible, though occasionally he would find one body part or the other suddenly "missing". McKay had almost freaked completely when he had turned around to find Sheppard's head had disappeared leaving the rest visible. Several comment regarding the headless horseman later it had faded back into view and now he was waiting along with the others to see what was next. The first time the invisibility had manifested itself it had taken almost an hour before he had faded back into sight. Now, all of the medical people had collected all the samples they needed for the moment and they were alone. Evidently their fates were being decided by the powers that be. He sighed and looked around.

"Well, I guess this will win us the weirdest mission award for this month." He said. "And Lorne though he had it tied up for the purple flower people on PT456."

"Yes, I believe that winning an extra four hours to ourselves in the rec room is adequate compensation for becoming complete _freaks_." Rodney said. As he finished his whole head burst into flame, causing his teammates to lean back away from him. It was weird to say the least to see McKay's features looking back at them as if sculpted in flames. "Oh crap." McKay muttered as he realized what had happened. He had already been forced to replace his scrubs several times that day, not to mention the number of outfits in the previous several days, especially after several embarrassing lower body flare-ups. He hadn't appreciated Ronan's reference to "the burning clap" either.

Teyla, who had managed to overcome her initial shock, and had seemingly come to terms with her mutation with her usual élan, calmly moved her chair a few inches further away from the flames and looked at Ronan, who was taking this the best of all of them despite the fact that his was the most glaringly obvious change. His strength had been increasing exponentially. They had all become more comfortable talking about their mutations, even if only among themselves. Not that they had much choice there as it had been 'strongly suggested' that they remain in the isolation room until such time as final determinations could be made. The stationing of Marines outside the locked door had seconded the suggestion rather clearly.

"Can you move as easily as before? You appear to be heavier and your joints look awkward." Teyla questioned Ronan. The ex-runner shrugged.

"I can walk okay. Don't think I'll be beating Sheppard at running anytime soon, but I won't have to run when the wraith come." He smiled, an evil toothy grin on his now armored face. "Let them try and feed on me now." He idly brought a fist down on the extra chair at the table and it crumpled as if it were made of aluminum. "What about you? Are you okay?" She grimaced and rubbed at one of her ears that had lengthened until the lobe almost touched her shoulder. It returned to its normal shape.

"I am…dealing." She finally settled on. She was frightened to some degree, for herself and the others, and for what it might mean to her family and people if this could not be cured. She held out one hand and concentrated. Her fingers elongated, to almost twice their regular length and she wiggled them. "However I believe I am becoming able to control when and if I stretch."

"Have you tried to be taller?" McKay asked as the flames around his head and face receded. She shook her head and concentrated for a moment. As the three men watched her torso seemed to length and thin until she sat even taller than Ronan. With a small smile at McKay's cheer she settled back into her regular shape.

"It is requiring less effort to do such things. I think I will soon have complete control of it instead of these random changes. It is like a form of meditation, or the disciple of the katas, a matter of control." She looked at McKay. "Perhaps if you had allowed me to teach you the meditation techniques of my people you would be able to control the flame." She chided gently. McKay scowled.

"Sheppard couldn't teach me meditation when I was _ascending_, doing it just because the rest of you could do it really wasn't going to work. Besides, I have too much going on up there to 'empty my thoughts', unlike some others who have nothing but hair". He said with a smirk at Sheppard who rolled his eyes.

"Sure Rodney, and all those hours of playing Angry Birds are mentally challenging for you I assume?" He snarked back.

"I'll have you know that it takes a certain degree of skill and know how to figure the correct angles so that you can achieve three stars on every level with minimum tries given the variables of bird type and scenario."

"Especially after Zalenka hacked it and made up his own levels when the updates weren't coming quick enough." Sheppard observed. "I thought the wraith-pig that sucked the life out of the birds after they landed was a little gruesome for a game, but the worm hole effect was kinda cool..." He knew that he and McKay were really trying not to talk about their own mutations, but damn it he really didn't want to talk about it.

"So, you're the 'Invisible Girl'", McKay interrupted with a smirk, "can you project force fields yet?" They had been forced to explain the comic book references to Teyla and Ronan while the samples were being taken, however Sheppard was now sorry he had gone along with Woolsey's flight of fancy, despite the obvious parallels. He scowled at his friend.

"No, Rodney, I can't project force fields with my mind. Can you fly yet, Human Torch?" He snarked back.

He was aware that while Teyla had seemingly managed to come to terms with and even control her mutation that McKay was still struggling with his own, as was he, truth be told. He was also not sure why HE had to be the girl.

"No, I cannot fly. As it is this is all scientifically impossible and flying is that much more so." McKay snapped.

"And yet we are changed." Teyla pointed out. "If the change is possible, then is not the flying?'

"Look, I'm not exactly enthused about flying in a puddle jumper; the thought of whipping around in my own skin with no protection against anything is not exactly inspiring. As it is the Human Torch couldn't go into space anyway, no air." McKay pointed to himself, "_Astro_physicist. What's to see down here?" Sheppard nodded in agreement, though he would give his right arm to fly that way himself, even if he was atmosphere bound. At that thought his right arm disappeared. He sighed. Great, it seemed he needed to do a little work on his inner stillness. He closed his eyes and concentrated. After a moment he felt the cool ripple effect on his arm that he had come to understand signaled that something had happened and he opened his eyes to see it back in place. McKay watched with envy.

"At least yours is theoretically possible. Your body is refracting the light around yourself in such a way that you, or part of you, becomes invisible in the visible spectrum of light. Of course you would still show up on infrared because of the heat. People have been trying to tweak that little process for years. You'll be quite the toast of the dioptrics world." Sheppard snorted.

"Like the SGC is going to allow _this_ to get out?" He asked. "They'll keep us for lab rats." That was a serious concern that he had had more than once in his time here, especially after the 'suggestion' about staying in the room. Why did he keep coming back to that? Was he doomed to spend his life as a scientific/genetic oddity? He straightened in his chair. No, he was NOT, his friends were NOT.

"Uh oh." McKay thought to himself seeing a familiar look of determination coming over Sheppard's face. A flame leapt into being on the back of his hand and seemed to be standing nervously at attention as if waiting for something. At least the flames were starting to stay away from his clothes. Sheppard stood and started for the door. As soon as it became obvious where he was going Ronan was on his feet and on Sheppard's heels. Evidently they were leaving. McKay sprang to his feet and with Teyla at his side headed after his friends. He started to point out that he was pretty sure that the door was locked when it shot open as Sheppard approached. Evidently the strange twist to their genetics had not bothered the City's infatuation with the pilot in any way. He was pretty sure that he was the only one that had noticed that the City would pretty much whore itself out for anything that the pilot wanted. But since he had benefited from the city's infatuation, he had never pointed it out.

The Two marines outside the door, taken off guard (McKay snickered to himself for that little pun) by the sudden opening of the 'locked' doors behind them, stumbled around to face the oncoming team. The larger of the two- and just where did they recruit these guys anyway-ex-NFL?- held up a hand.

"Sorry Sir, we have orders that you are to stay in the room." He stated firmly. Sheppard didn't even slow his approach.

"Well now you have different orders Sergeant." He said as he shouldered by the startled Marines and headed down the corridor, followed closely by the others. McKay could not help but smirk at the sergeant as he went by. The smirk disappeared as the man and his buddy both went for their side arms. One was stopped by Ronan's hand closing around his wrist, an action that caused him to scream and drop his weapon. McKay was pretty sure he could hear the bones in the man's wrist grinding together. The Sergeant was stopped by Teyla slamming her fist into his nose from about ten feet away. It was strange, but effective as the Marine staggered back, eyes watering. McKay hurried after Sheppard who had not so much as slowed down. He could hear Ronan and Teyla coming up behind him.

"Great, now we're on the lam." He groused. 'What's next, Butch, bank robbing in Bolivia?"

"I thought this 'Fantastic Four' were a force for good, why would they rob banks?" Teyla asked, puzzled. As they tramped toward the transporter McKay was forced to hastily explain the reference as it seemed Sheppard was focused on his goal, whatever that was. He found out soon enough as when they got in the transporter Sheppard punched the central core as a destination. Evidently they were going to face Woolsey and the SGC head on, lovely.

The transporter dumped them out right outside the control room and Sheppard powered on with no signs of stopping. McKay could see that the gate was active which, given the hour and lack of gate teams, suggested to him that conversations were being had with the SGC. They passed the Marines on duty who did two perfect triple takes as the team streamed by. Sheppard went straight to Woolsey office and without any such niceties as knocking barged into the room, startling Woolsey who had been speaking to someone on his computer screen. He sputtered for a few moments then seemed to recover.

"Colonel Sheppard, what is the meaning of this? You and your team were confined to the isolation room…" He started but was cut off by Sheppard.

"Yeah, about that, why did no one bother to tell us WHY we were being kept locked up like some sort of animals, or criminals, and WHY aren't we being included in whatever discussions are being had regarding our conditions or our futures?" Sheppard demanded. He rounded Woolsey's desk, despite the man's protests so that he could see the screen. The screen was split in four panels. Sheppard recognized two of the men that were on it. "General O'Neill, Beckett." He acknowledged them. "I would have thought that both of you at least knew us well enough and had had enough experience with the weird things that happen on an SG team to at least give us the benefit of asking for our input on what's going on."

At hearing his friend's name McKay forced himself around behind Woolsey's desk too, making the area rather crowded. He too ignored the administrator's protests. Ronan leaned against the desk, which groaned a little under his new weight and Teyla sank gracefully into a chair in the front of it.

"Beckett, why the hell are you letting these vampires and witch doctors drain us dry while you sit back there rubbing your hands over a new sample for your genetics scrap book? Get your ass out here and fix me….us!" McKay demanded.

"I dinna know anything about that Rodney!" Beckett protested, his open face showing honest upset at the news his friends had been left out of the loop. "General?" he asked the other man.

"It was my understanding that Colonel Sheppard and his team had been completely debriefed regarding the results of the tests and the plans being made and were cooperating fully." O'Neill drawled with a mild look of confusion that Sheppard knew for a fact was false. The man was sometimes confused, but never in these kinds of situations. For a field officer he had taken to the desk job side of things surprisingly well. "Perhaps you could clear that misunderstanding up for me, Mr. Thomson, since we have evidently been unlawfully holding a decorated American officer, a Canadian citizen and two alien's from a whole 'nother galaxy with out due process or so much as a by your leave." The third man on the screen scowled.

"It was decided..." He started.

"By who?" O'Neill demanded, cutting in. "Or is that 'whom'?"

"Like you General, I too answer to those higher up. People who can not, will not, be mentioned in these circumstances. It was decided that given the sensitive nature of the Atlantis mission and the….implications of the genetic anomalies that it would be best if the team were held in isolation until such time as results were achieved on all tests and decisions could be made based on those results. Given the records of those involved it was felt that it would be best if that were done summarily, instead of as an option or an order."

"So basically because you read my file you decided that my team and I could just wait while you and the people who won't be named decided what to do with our lives?" Sheppard translated. Even when he had been turning into a freaking bug he had at least been given some degree of self determination. HE had known he was dangerous and needed to be locked up, and he had agreed to it. Now, not so much.

"Colonel Sheppard you are the bearer of the strongest natural incidence of the Ancient gene, stronger even then O'Neill. The fact that we even let you off this planet is something that I can assure you has been discussed at some very high levels. Had Dr. Weir not had some friends in damn high places you would even now be literally cooling your heels at the Antarctic base. That and the fact that Atlantis may be the only way we have of defeating the Wraith before they figure out how to find Earth. To now have that resource endangered by some freakish change in those genetics is not something that we are taking lightly. Whether you know it or not when you sat down in that chair in Antarctica you became to all intents and purposed the property of the US government. What happens to you, and by extension your team, regardless of their national or planetary origin, is not up to you, nor has that been up to you for some number of years despite what you might think. Now you will return to your isolation room and wait until you are given your orders."

"I'll have you know..." McKay started to say before Thompson cut him off.

"Don't even start with me Dr. McKay. I am well aware of your multiple doctorates and your worth to the Atlantis mission. I also know about the value that Ms. Emmagen and Mr. Dex have been to the mission there. However, when it comes down to it you can all be replaced, unlike Colonel Sheppard. Believe me when I tell you that your government is NOT going to protest on your behalf. I will say that should Ms Emmagen and Mr. Dex choose to leave Atlantis at this time we will not stop them, though we would appreciate the opportunity to explore their mutations in more depth. Some kind of accommodation could be worked out regarding compensation."

"Is he offering to by us off to become lab rats?" Ronan asked, straightening. His height had always been impressive but with his new bulk he really was quite a sight. Sheppard wished that the men on screen could see him. Teyla had also risen to her feet, and Sheppard could see the anger in her eyes at being dismissed so easily. McKay was practically vibrating with rage, and a small flame was dancing around on the top of his head as if he were a giant Rodney-shaped candle. Quite frankly Sheppard felt like_ his_ head was going to burst into flames at any moment too. Sheppard pushed his own anger aside for later and fastened on to something that the man had said that needed expanding on. He addressed Ronan first however.

"Yes, he is, but you can just ignore that, nobody is _going_ anywhere they don't want to and no one is _accommodating_ anyone." He said. He looked back at the screen. He could see O'Neill with an unaccustomedly angry look on his face talking to someone off screen and Becket practically wringing his hands on the other small screen. Thompson, the self-assured prick, was simply waiting. He showed no response at Sheppard's declaration. "You are talking like there is no hope for a cure to whatever this is. Is that true Beckett?" Thompson started to speak but this time Sheppard cut him off. "No, I want it from Beckett not you." The other man's eyes narrowed, but he held his peace and allowed Beckett to speak.

"The changes in your DNA are permanent, aye. We still can't say for sure exactly what caused the changes, nor why they have manifested differently in each of you. The Ancient records are almost useless about the anomaly itself and its effects on the human genome. It is possible that we might be able to formulate something similar to the retrovirus to reverse the changes, but you recall how long that took before, and it would have to be changed for each of you, so times that by four." Sheppard noticed that Beckett's eyes kept drifting over to McKay whose flame was getting higher and higher and engulfing more of his head.

"Oh, and let's remember how the retro virus was such a success!" McKay injected, totally ignoring that his head was now a towering inferno. "There's something to look forward to. You can just keep the contents of your cauldrons away from me Beckett. I opt out." Through the flames that covered his face Sheppard could see the impact of the realization that this change was possibly permanent, and that in the eyes of the government they were little more than interesting genetic anomalies. Looking at Ronan and Teyla he could see the similar realizations in their eyes also. Biting his lip he looked at O'Neill who had finished with his off screen chat and was now listening again. There only seemed to be one choice.

"Sir, I respectfully tender my resignation from the Air Force, effective immediately. I choose to be discharged in place." He said formally. Almost before he finished Thompson was talking.

"Not accepted, Colonel. As I said you are the property of this government, and you will remain so, whether you do it as an Air Force Colonel or not in the future is up for debate, but you _will_ remain." Sheppard shook his head.

"No, No I won't." He looked at his teammates, getting small nods as he met each pair of eyes. "_We_ won't. Atlantis out." He looked at Ronan, ignoring the voices coming from the screen. "Conversation's over Chewie." As soon as he spoke Ronan's fist crashed down on the computer and kept going through the desk. At the same time Sheppard mentally sent a message to Atlantis to shut down the worm hole and bring up the shield. Ignoring McKay's squawk about breaking computers he turned to face Woolsey who was gaping at his desk in a mixture of horror and amazement. "We'll be taking one of the jumpers. I would suggest that you don't try to stop us." He led the way out of the room.

Chapter 8-

They had barely made it down the stairs and to the door when Sheppard heard Woolsey calling his name. He turned around and looked back at the man leaning over the railing.

"You don't have to leave Colonel, none of you."

"You just heard the conversation. We are _not _resources to be used and tested at some faceless bureaucrats'' discretion. Consider this a protest against experimentation without representation, our own little revolution."

"Yes, I did hear the conversation, and I wish that you had heard the one I was having before you came in. I wish you could have heard the ones I've _been _having for the last several days. I didn't want to lock you up, nor did I want to withhold the results from you, but there were threats that if I did not comply then people would be sent through who would, or you and your team would be taken to Earth and out of our hands all together. No one here sees you, any of you, in the way that man was talking about." Sheppard shifted uneasily, not sure exactly what Woolsey was getting at, and anxious to just get out of here before they were forced to fight with the people they had lived with for years. He could feel Teyla's hand on his back though, and knew she was urging him to listen.

"So what are you saying exactly?" he asked. Woolsey stood up straighter and his face became purposeful.

"I am saying that if you are throwing a revolution, I want to join, and I suspect that there are a large number of other people who also will be sympathetic to your cause. I do not appreciate being told how to run my base when I was promised that I would have a free hand within reason. Nor do I appreciate being threatened. From General O'Neill's demeanor I believe he too will be on your side. Give him; give _us_, a chance to help you before you take a step that will be difficult to come back from." He pled. Sheppard stared at him for a second, trying to determine his sincerity. It could be another ploy to control them, but he had never heard Woolsey speak like that before. Teyla's hand was on his back again.

"John, I believe he is sincere in his wish to help." She said quietly. He turned to face his team.

"This needs to be a team decision." He said. "Each of us needs to decide for themselves what is going to be best."

"While we could certainly go to my people on the mainland I do not feel that it would be far enough should your government decide to attempt to take us by force. That means that we would have to go elsewhere, and while we are certainly capable of protecting ourselves there are many enemies in this galaxy who would take advantage of our estrangement from the protection of Atlantis. I vote that we stay here." Teyla said.

"She's right." Ronan said. "Anywhere we go we're likely to be recognized. More so now." He held out a rock-like hand. "We could fight, but it won't be from a position of strength. I'll do what the rest of you do." Sheppard knew that it was a statement of devotion from the normally taciturn Satedan, and took it for that. He looked at McKay who was scowling and seemed to be bouncing a ball of flame between his hands.

"Let's see. On one hand we have coffee, chocolate, and the protection of Atlantis and on the other we have constantly running while looking over our shoulders for the next enemy to take advantage of the situation, living on what we can trade for or hunt, and having no access to any medical facilities that have even heard of antibiotics much less a CT scan. Oh the choice is really hard. I'll have to think about it. Wait, I'm done. We'll stay." He said firmly. He looked at Sheppard.

"Much as I find the idea of being on the run constantly and being locked in a jumper with you Rodney 24/7/365, I think it would be best if we stayed. Aside from the protection and conveniences, we have friends here, and I've learned that that is worth a lot." He added his endorsement. With that decided he spun to face Woolsey again, finding that the man had come down from his office while they talked. He also noted that Lorne, probably alerted by the Marines outside the isolation room door had come in and was standing to the side while one of the Marine guards whispered in his ear. No doubt getting what part of the story the guards had managed to glean from what had been said. They certainly hadn't been quiet up there in Woolsey's office.

"We'll stay, but on our terms. No tests without our permission, and we stay an active team." He said. Woolsey nodded.

"Agreed. As far as I am concerned you remain the military commander of this base, however I can't speak for your men. I know that you are not unfamiliar with the penalties for failing to follow a lawfully given order, Colonel, and I am sure that you would not wish those on anyone else." Woolsey said. "That being said, I do not believe that General O'Neill was aware of the orders regarding your confinement, and since the orders obviously did not issue from the proper chain of command I do not consider them as lawful in nature."

"I agree." Lorne said "Even if they were, you are the commander of this base, sir. I think I speak for a vast majority of the men when I say that we will follow your orders, regardless." It was a statement that smacked of insubordination, but then the powers that be should not be too surprised about that given who they had put in charge.

"Thank you, Major, Mr. Woolsey. I guess we'll…go to our quarters now." It seemed a little bit anticlimactic after the earlier dramatics to simply wander off to their quarters as if nothing had happened, but it wasn't as if they had anywhere else to be, and it was the middle of the night. He was sure there would be a lot of discussions when the response from earth came, but that would evidently be later. So for now…sleep was sounding better and better, and maybe a chance to play with his new….skills without the others watching. None of them had been alone since this whole thing began. He followed his team out of the room. As he went he mentally released his hold on the gate, confident that their friends had their back now.

Chapter 9-

His plans for some quiet time aside Sheppard felt a little strange as he bid the others good night. After nearly a week of constant companionship it was strange to be alone. He settled onto his bed and looked down at his scrub clad self. First order of business, get out of these so he didn't feel like an escapee from a mental ward. He was glad he hadn't thought much about it earlier. It was hard to pull off righteous indignation when one was dressed like Jack Nicolson in "One flew over a Cuckoo's Nest", unless of course one _was_ Jack Nicholson. He slipped into the bathroom and the shower started almost immediately, the steam building quickly. Evidently the city felt he needed a shower, and he could not gainsay that idea. He slipped in and let the hot water pound on his back for what seemed like an hour before finishing his shower and going back to his bedroom. He slipped into his tee shirt and sweats that he used for sleeping and sat down on the bed. The shower had driven off the sharp edge of tiredness he had been feeling, so instead of getting into bed he wondered over to his mirror.

He stood staring at himself for several minutes, but nothing happened, so much for spontaneity. He bit his lip and closed his eyes, time for a little centering. He breathed deeply, calling on the lessons he had learned in the cloister. Finally quieted he opened his eyes and concentrated on his legs. Almost immediately his legs faded out of existence. He concentrated again and his left leg appear up to the knee. He changed his thought and his right arm disappeared as his leg faded out again. "All right, now we're getting somewhere." He thought.

Soon he was flashing in and out of sight. He was getting to the point where he didn't have to concentrate on it so much, only wish it to be and it was. However he was getting more and more tired as he went along, and he soon allowed himself to fade totally back into sight. He went over to his bed and lay down, the lights automatically dimming to near darkness. He quickly found himself fading into sleep, but as he went he wondered how his friends were doing. He wasn't even aware as the lights faded completely and the windows opened silently to allow in a gentle breeze. In the near darkness his hair disappeared.

Down the hall from Sheppard's quarter Rodney McKay was also standing in front of his mirror. Unfortunately he was not having the success that Sheppard had enjoyed with his new "power". Oh he was spontaneously combusting, but unlike his teammates he still could not control it to any great degree. When he concentrated on making a flame appear in his hand it would pop up on his ear. When he tried to think _that_ flame out, another would spring into being on his _other_ ear. Finally, in frustration, he moved away from the mirror and plopped down on his bed. He tried to ignore the fact that he was nude, a state that he was not completely comfortable in outside of his shower or certain romantic encounters. Unfortunately his clothes all proved to be flammable, and so until he got control of his flames he was going to have to either become a nudist or figure out some sort of fabric that wouldn't either burn away or melt to his skin when he  
>'flamed-on'. At least the flame did not seem to start on body parts in contact with solid objects like the bed. He also did not have to worry about being cold it seemed, as his inner fire was keeping him quite comfortable even in the perpetually cool Atlantis. His eyelids were becoming heavier, and he decided to ignore the small flame dancing merrily on his chest as if it sought to entertain him. As he drifted off to sleep he wondered if Teyla was having a hard time showing Cannan her mutation.<p>

Teyla was in the quarters that she shared with her family and it felt so good to be home. Yes, she had been with her team, people she considered to be family, however this was where her heart was, where Cannan and Tegan were. She was sitting on the couch breast feeding Tegan, having checked with Jennifer Keller about any possible effects on the child once more before doing so. Cannan was seated in a chair nearby watching with a small smile as his son nodded off in mid-suckle.

"He has not been sleeping well at all since you have been gone, nor eating without causing quite a fuss. I fear he will never accept me as a substitute for you when it comes to the essentials." He observed as she rose and lowered the baby into the cradle that rested at the side of their bed. Teyla hovered over the baby for several moments making sure he was deeply asleep and then walked back over to the couch and sat. She had told Cannan all that had happened, and about how they had almost come to a point where they had to flee. She had yet to show him the mutation that had been the case of all of this, and she was reluctant to do so. It was bad enough that she was one of the ones that could feel the wraith, and she was aware that Cannan had nightmares still of his time in the hands of Michael. Would her husband accept her? Could he?

"Do not hesitate to show me, beloved." Cannan suddenly spoke. "Even when I was…changed, you still held true to me, and I will do no less with you. You are Tegan's mother, and my wife. You are a leader of our people. You are Teyla Emmagen, daughter of Tegan. Whatever change that has taken place, none of that has changed, and neither will my love." She smiled at him and reached out to him, her arm extending out so that she could brush a palm over his cheek without rising from the sofa. His eyes became larger and larger as the hand approached, but he leaned his cheek into her palm none the less, and smiled back at her, his hand rising to cover hers. They would be fine. She only hoped that her friends were doing as well.

In his quarters Ronan was sitting on his bed staring at the back of his hands. They were a darker now then they had been and seemed to be made of rock. He made fists, and marveled at the size of the resultant clumps. Let the wraith come at him now, or Michael and his mutants. He picked up another sandwich from the plate he had picked up in the cafeteria before he had come to his quarters. He was almost constantly hungry now, and he found he could eat prodigious amounts of food, even more than McKay could. It was satisfying. He stood and went over to the mirror that hung on the wall. He was still wearing the scrubs that had been provided by the medical people so he stripped them off and looked again into the mirror. Hmmm, seemed his fists were not the only thing that had gotten bigger. He smiled to himself in the mirror. He wouldn't have chosen to do this, but since it had happened, he at least had come out ahead in the most important parts of life. What was it the Marines said? The three 'f's': food, fighting and….. He stopped himself on the last one, Teyla said it was not a polite word, and should not be used. He shrugged to himself in the mirror. Even Teyla's sticks could not hurt him now. He smirked. Fuck polite.

Chapter 10-

A week later things had settled to into a sort of normal, at least for them. Several hours after Ronan had forcibly disconnected them a call had come in from O'Neill and Beckett. The Scots doctor had apologized profusely, saying that he had had no knowledge of how they were being treated, and had in fact been kept in the dark about who exactly was affected until he had reached Sheppard's sample and he had instantly known from whom and where the samples had been gathered. After his rambling apology and an in-depth discussion regarding the particulars of the genetic mutations that had O'Neill's eyes glazing over and that went over the heads of everyone else, Beckett had yielded the floor to O'Neill who took it with a relieved look.

"All right, here's the scoop. We don't want you to quit and since you are still there I hope that means you do not want to quit either. A fact which I suspect will save us from losing the entire base, a point which I made with the brass. Who, for once, seemed to be listening, especially after I told them about the orders that had been passed through without any input from them. There's nothing a four star general hates more than being told his input has not been required." The general had related to them the conversations that had been had among the various military leaders and in the end it had been decided that despite his new "talent" Sheppard would remain as the base commander with their compliments. As to the Trust and the other non-military faction, they had been told in plain language to back off and while there was no guarantee of them doing so permanently, they were at least quiet for now.

"That being said I am sure that you know that we can not just ignore the military applications of your….talents. The powers that be have requested that you keep us abreast of any changes and you should know that they are looking into being able to do something like this intentionally as soon as they can figure out what that anomaly is and just what it is emitting. Frankly I think they are waiting to see if you four are going to keel over or go mad or something before they ramp up the exploration thing. Expect some new geeks out there to look at the thing. You may have to rein them in a little if they get too enthusiastic. But I assume you have lots of experience with that, I have worked with McKay after all." The Canadian had snorted in derision at the insult.

In the end they had simply gone back on the roster for away missions, and were due to go out the next day. Tonight however they taking advantage of the four hours uninterrupted time in the rec room that they had won for weirdest away trip of the month. McKay had managed to scrounge up both Fantastic Four movies and was setting them up to play on the big screen. Prodigious amounts of popcorn had been made, with what seemed like a barrel load of extra-butter, by Ronan who had the largest bowl. Canaan and Teyla had claimed the Loveseat and Tegan was lying on the cushions between them happily kicking his feet as his mother tickled his belly.

Sheppard was slouched on the couch next to the cooler that was loaded down with beer and soda, waiting for McKay to stop fusing with the DVD machine. How a man with multiple PhDs, one of them in mechanical engineering, could mess up a simple thing like loading a movie he didn't know, but if the scientist didn't get it together soon he was going to call Radek to come and do it just to piss Rodney off. He was reaching for his earpiece when a message came across the team frequency.

"Colonel Sheppard to the control room please." It was Woolsey. Sheppard acknowledged the call and stood. They were off duty, but then as military commander he was never really off duty. He waved to the others.

"Go ahead without me. I'll be back as soon as I can. I've seen the first movie anyway." He would miss his alien teammates' response to seeing their movie/comic book counterparts for the first time, but he was sure McKay would fill him in. Hopefully this wouldn't take long. Maybe the Marines had been pranking the scientists down in botany again. _He_ had thought the "Audrey" plant thing was hilarious.

He hustled into the control room and found Woolsey standing in front of the large screen staring at a frozen image. As he came around to Woolsey's side he could see more of the image and frowned as he tried to figure out who it was. The figure was wearing a dark cloak with the hood up, hiding his/ or her face. Woolsey looked at him as he came to a stop at his side.

"Sorry to call you away from the screening Colonel, but I thought you might want to see this sooner rather than later. One of our allies said that this was broadcasting in their sector. We sent a team to record the broadcast." He said and nodded to the tech who pushed some buttons. The screen came to life.

"This is to Sheppard and his team. I know you can see this where-ever you are hidden. I don't know how you have done this, but I will have my revenge on you all. You sought to destroy me but you have made me the weapon of your destruction." The figure lifted a hand and pointed at the screen, as the cloak fell away from the arm Sheppard could see that the hand seemed to be covered in the same bio-ceramic material that made up the outside of the wraith ships. As the hand came up electricity seemed to arc between the fingers. Sheppard could hardly look away from the display of power, but his eyes were drawn upward as the hood of the cloak feel back to reveal the face of the person. He gaped as he recognized the face of a wraith, but one unlike any he had ever seen.

The Wraith's face was partially covered by the same material as its hand was, and even as they watched the bio-ceramic seemed to be spreading across his visage. The dark eyes seemed to glow with madness; and Sheppard had no doubt that they had gained another enemy, an arch-enemy.

"Holy crap," he murmured "It's Dr. Doom."

The End…..or maybe not.


End file.
